The Toledo Financial Opportunity Center Network
Empowering families to secure and sustain financial stability 
  
          VOLUME 1, NUMBER 4                                                                                                                                                                                                             DECEMBER 2014   

In This Issue:
 
Library Aims to Help Area Residents with "Avoiding the Debt Trap"
  
In its continuing effort to provide timely and accurate information to our community, the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library recently launched a three part video series, "Avoiding the Debt Trap." The library's Spending Smarter, Living Better initiative once again partnered with the Toledo FOC Network in the creation of the video series that was produced by WGTE Public Television. 

From simply understanding debt to creating a personal financial recovery plan, the series aims to educate and engage viewers in services and resources available in the community. To view and share the videos, click on the links below:
Building Capacity to Expand Opportunity
Toledo's Financial Opportunity Centers were hard at work this past fall, developing partnerships and securing funding necessary to build the capacity of the network in order to benefit even more Toledoans. 

United North's ONE Village FOC received an award in the amount of $15,000 from the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing's Carol Mount Peterson Fund this past fall. This award will allow the ONE Village FOC to pilot on-site services at Cranes Landing starting in 2016. Cranes Landing is a senior living community age 55 and older located in north Toledo's Chase neighborhood. Soon, more than 40 residents at Cranes Landing will receive one-on-one financial coaching and group-based workshops right in the same building where they live!

The ONE Village FOC also recently received a capacity building grant in the amount of $5,000 from the Ohio Association of Food Banks to expand Ohio Benefits Bank (OBB) free tax preparation services. The OBB capacity building funds will allow the FOC coaches, who are also trained OBB Tax Counselors, to host weekend and evening tax clinics for individuals who work traditional business hours and cannot make weekday appointments. Perhaps most importantly, when folks come to the FOC for free OBB tax prep services, they will meet with a coach who help them engage in other popular FOC services such as credit repair and employment coaching.

The fall capacity building efforts were rounded out by the East Toledo Family Center FOC. The East Toledo Family Center coaches competed to secure the capacity building expertise of the 2014-2015 Leadership Toledo class, and won! Look for innovative marketing materials featuring the Toledo FOC Network to come your way in early 2016.
Coaches Corner:  Regina Richardson
With personal passions like education and financial literacy, how could Regina Richardson not be a perfect fit as a financial coach with the ONE Village Financial Opportunity Center? 

Regina is a trained financial coach through LISC and a certified credit counselor through Justine PETERSEN. She is also an Ohio Benefits Bank Counselor with the Ohio Associate of Food Banks, and a VITA and OBB tax counselor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Northeastern Illinois University and a Masters in Family Studies from Spring Harbor University.

Regina's professional career includes eight years in the corporate arena, primarily in the banking industry. She later joined personal passion with her professional career by joining the non-profit sector. She served over five years with the Greater Toledo Urban League, first as a program coordinator for afterschool and summer mentorship programs before transitioning to serve as the executive assistant to the President & CEO.

In her spare time, Regina volunteers on the scholarship committee at her church. Look for Regina at the Walk The Word Ministry's 2015 Celebrity Wait Dinner on March 29th at the Grand Plaza Hotel where she will be helping to raise funds for area high school graduates.

 

 
Happy Holidays from the Toledo FOC Network! #ALC2014
                 
  
 Toledo Financial Opportunity Center Network is sponsored in part by:
 
For More Information
Contact:

 

Valerie Moffitt
419.242.3836 ext 15
 
 
                                                                                          
                                                                                               

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